


Star Wars: Iron Bounty

by Mad_Maxis



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebellion Era - All Media Types
Genre: Early rebelion period, Gen, Work In Progress, cannon-adjacent, idc if nobody else uses an exosuit, not my fault they out there trying to lift stuff with their own arms, oops mostly OC's
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:00:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24875809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mad_Maxis/pseuds/Mad_Maxis
Summary: A creative but poor Scrapper was just sifting through the trash of the people who live on the top level of the planet looking for something to salvage when a commotion leads her to see two figures facing off over a data chip. they turned out to be a jedi and an Inquisitor. And now Tor has unfortunately come into the possession of whatever information is worth dying, and killing, for.
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: A thin veneer

The open-air market was a cacophony of smells and sounds as varied as the species that were walking through its stalls, the large crowds flowing like a river with some popular stalls acting like rocks disrupting the flow. However, this was only the surface, for the planet Strelak had just a shiny surface covering the slums and under-city that ran far deeper. This is where Tor Sano hunts and scavenges for discarded droid parts or other valuable scrap that those up top toss without knowing how valuable it really is. “Come on come on, this is my third dive today and I KNOW one of you decadent Toppers scuffed your service droids’ arm so you had to get a new one.” On top of a pile twice as large as herself of discarded trash Tor sifted the refuse, her green jumpsuit and blue overalls stained with both grease and trash her thick gloves and sturdy boots keeping her safe from possible sharp objects hidden in the heaps she did most of her work. Throwing aside burned out capacitors and data-pads that were crushed by the other trash before finally finding something worthwhile “Finally something decent!” brushing aside some trash the astromech leg was fully intact, just a broken tread “hey DB, I got a piece for you to hold on to.” A robotic arm unfolded itself from her back followed by a few chirps as her trusty droid reached out to hold the discarded leg.

Before she could get back to searching the pile for more goods a sound drew Tor’s attention upwards: the sound of blaster fire and panicked voices. Getting up and sprinting towards the sounds her exosuit’s servos whined as they helped her to run faster then a person normally was able. After a few moments she came to one of the bridges that crossed over the lower levels trench-like opening to the top where a single person stood in its center, wearing what seemed to be a worn-out cloak “oh great, another slumer tried to sneak up top. Going to be a few weeks of being over-patrolled now.” Climbing a few pipes hanging off the wall to get a better look, Tor was able to see that the person was surrounded by…. Stormtroopers? However these were in all black, not the white she had come to know. Someone walked towards the figure, also dressed in black but where the others were in armour they wore more of a body suit, a sleek black helmet and a cape. Tor wondered to herself who goes around wearing a cape and climbed higher to hear what was being said. “… over, give us the data chip and I can guarantee that you will be unharmed.”

The lone figure shook their head “Unharmed until you take me to whatever place broke you? No thanks, I would rather go down fighting you Sith then become one of the Empires broken puppets.” Their voice full of distain, punctuated by something flying out of their robe to their hand and igniting into a green blade.

“You are a fool Vertof, refusing an Inquisitor’s offer of mercy. Do you know how rare that is? No matter, I will get that information cooperation or not.” Inquisitor and Sith? Tor didn’t know about either of those, but they certainly didn’t sound good. And as if to seal the feeling the Inquisitor brought out a ringed grip that emitted 2 dark red blades. The two stood there, seemingly motionless before the Inquisitor lunged towards Vertof who blocked the strike. Tor thought it looked like a dance, the way their blades blurred with their speed and precision. However the dance would have to end, and it did so abruptly and painfully, the Inquisitor finding that Vertof over-reached allowing them to cut his sword hand off and stabbing him in the chest before somehow throwing him past Tor down into the part of the slum she had just came from. Putting the weapon back onto their belt the Inquisitor turned to her odd stormtroopers “Go retrieve the body, we need that data chip. Let nothing get in your way.” The Troopers Replied with a clear “Yes fourth Sister.” They she seemed to glide out of view.

After waiting for a few moments so that she was sure they had all left to find a way down Tor leaped down from her perch, the leg servos whining as they made the large drop painless. “DB, how much do you think the stuff that Vertof guy had is worth?” a few annoyed sounding beeps answered her “Relax buddy, it will take them at least an hour to get here from the closest entrance. I’m going to go find that weapon he had first. That must be worth some serious creds, or at least will help with cutting some of the larger scrap down into more reasonable sizes.” It didn’t take too long to find the prize, it was the only shiny object in the area, walking up it looks like the persons hand was still holding the weapon. “I am real sorry about this, but you wont be needing this anymore. Plus, I’m probably the only person anywhere nearby that can appreciate such a fine item. DB, little help?” an exasperated string of chirps accompanied an arm reaching over to pry the fingers off the hilt. “Hey carful DB, he might be dead but you don’t need to try and rip the fingers off.” After a short time, Tor had one new scrap-cutter. Now time to find the person’s body.

Going back the way she came Tor saw Vertof’s body, smashed into the scrap pile she had just searched through. Taking a deep-breath to steady herself, she started towards the crumpled form “O.k. Tor you can do this, its just a body… one that was alive a few min ago. I just hope his end was as painless as it could have been, and that he was able pass on without an issue.” She crossed her hands to form wings and raised them up, symbolic of his spirit passing on. Walking up to the body a cursory glance made it clear he didn’t have any fancy clothing or jewelry. Once she was next to Vertof his had moved, making Tor jump “Emperors Taint! How are you still alive?” he turned his head towards Tor, his 4 eyes looked right into hers while his blue skin looked even sicker than it would have normally “You must… not let them… get this information… if they do…. It will be… the end of any hope.” With his remaining hand he pushed a data chip and a bag of creds into Tor’s hands. “Theres a ship… already paid for…. My apprentice will be there…. Tell him what happened… he will take you off world…. I am…. Sorry.” Vertof was hardly able to speak, taking all his strength to say the few words he was able to say. It was a little too much for Tor to take in all at once, what was dangerous that this chip was worth dying over, who was this apprentice, and why was he sorry? Before she could ask him any of these questions Vertof breathed one last time before going limp. Now Tor wasn’t sure what she should do and sat down trying to process this. That is until a harsh authoritative voice came from a short distance away “Halt, what are you doing with that fugitive?” Oh no, that’s not good to hear. She turned around and saw one of those Stormtroopers with their blaster raised pointing right at her. “Could today please give me a break.”


	2. The Scuffle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> well it looks like Tor has to try and find a way out of the situation she finds herself in, held at blaster-point with something the Empire seems willing to kill for.

Chapter 2: The Scuffle

Confused at how he was able to get down here so fast, Tor raised her hands slowly backing away from the dead Jedi “I was just going through this pile for any good scrap and this Kriffing lug came flying from the top and nearly crushed me.” Looking behind the… darktrooper? Tor saw how he got down so fast, he just rappelled down. Of course, the galactic military could just get a rope and come down.  


“Alright then, drop all of your equipment and personal items on the ground and back up. I need to make sure you didn’t take anything important.” Tor took an internal sharp breath in, having just made it too late to tell him that she did take something without horrible consequences.

“Uh yea, that’s totally fine. I will need to take my exo-suit off though, it holds most of my stuff and droid.” Tor began to undo the clasps and straps holding her to the frame, and during so whispered to DB “O.K. buddy, your in auto mode. I’ll tell you when to act.” DB beeped in confirmation. After a min of taking the suit off Tor took the bag Vertof gave her and tossed it slightly behind the suit.  


Taking a threatening step forward the darktrooper jabbed the blaster in my direction “Hold it, you said you had a droid, where is?” pointing slowly at her suit Tor replied “Oh my droid is attached to the suit. It’s actually how it works, though it does make interfacing with systems a little more annoying.” That seemed to be a satisfactory answer as the darktrooper slowly started walking towards the items, never taking the blaster off Tor.   
looking over the suit, not leaving any part unexamined finds the integrated droid on the back of the suit. The suit itself was composed of extended jointed supports that would attach to both arms and legs being around two inches thick with parts around the hands that looked like fingers, while the back housed the integral droid components making a rectangle of that covered most of the back area. While giving it a good once-over the darktrooper inquired “How much can this thing help you with your job? Looks like it would make it harder by adding all this weight.” 

Tor explained with an energetic response, forgetting for a moment that this was someone who was threatening her “Ah but you see, the suit produces more power then needed to move both itself and me so that the extra power is put straight to lifting or moving faster. In fact, it lets me do both of those about twice as better then a normal person while doing the same amount of personal work.”

The darktrooper looked back at Tor, most likely to see if she was lying to him. After a moment of staring her down he surprisingly lowered his blaster and replied “Have you thought about trying to sell this to one of the local supply companies? They would probably love it. And if not im sure the Empire could find a good use for it.” Tor had not thought about that, and almost made her feel bad about what she was about to do to him. “Well that does sound like NOW DB!” and with that command from Tor DB activated his fingers and grabbed the blaster from the unprepared trooper within a second, before smashing him with a devastating right hook throwing the trooper down to the ground. “man DB you took him out almost faster then I could even see, now lets leave before he wa..” but before she could finish that sentence DB took the stolen blaster and fired 3 shots into the knocked out trooper, making sure it was finished. “KARK, what was that DB? He was already beat?” DB responded with a string of beeps and whistles while raising his arms in a shrug, and Tor responded exasperated “Yes, I did tell you to take care of him but I just meant knock him out so we could escape.” Rubbing her head and sighing she continued “ok, next time ill be more specific. Though im really sure we are going to be in trouble if they catch us now. Lets just try to find this shuttle and get off this rock before that scary lady finds us, so back into manual mode.” DB beeped in response and stood stock still, unmoving until Tor came up and moved the arms and legs around so she could strap herself inside once again.

Making sure to pick up the items Vertof gave her Tor sprinted away in the opposite direction, hoping that all the others were going to be coming from the same direction the now dead trooper came from. After a while of running past several great scrap piles and a few fellow scavengers Tor was sure she was far enough away to take a small break and see where she was. Looking around she saw that as luck would have it there was an entrance to the Top a few feet away, and then hopefully a short distance away from the shuttle port. It was then that the realization that Vertof hadn’t told her what ship or even the names of the people she would meet. “ok, this is fine. Ill just have to, ask around. That shouldn’t be a problem…. Except for the Empire was looking for him so they might hear about someone looking for his friends. Or they might already have been found….” Shaking her head “well, that’s for future me to worry about. I just have to believe they aren’t, and it will all be fine.” Tor optimistically told to nobody in particular. Now however, it was time for a different sort of fight. The Toppers were very against anyone coming up from the lower areas, not ‘civilized’ enough for their likings even though its their fault its like this. Although scrappers were mostly tolerated as their trade pretty much required them to live right below the top and so did quite a lot of trading with the top side. Also, the sheer amount of bodies close together is something that the slummers had to really deal with, but it was going to be a quick run. Tor just have to make them know she was there to trade, and that she should be left alone, though she thought with how today is going someone might sick the town guard on her.


	3. Farewell to friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After coming to the surface of the planet Tor finds an old friend.

Chapter 3: Farewell to friends 

Tor was like a child standing inside the large cargo lift, capable of moving loads of goods from ships including smaller spacecrafts needing repairs or scrapping. The slow crawl towards the surface gave Tor time to think about what had happened and what might still come, punctuated occasionally by the grinding sound caused by the poor upkeep that made it impossible to even hear your own thoughts. Trying to keep the thought about how she had become involved with something far larger and more dangerous than she could have ever imagined, mostly focusing on not dwelling on how she had killed what was probably an even more important type of stormtrooper and what the consequences of her actions would be.  


As if reading her mind DB chirped and whistled a short sentence. “Yes DB I know I didn’t technically kill the stormtrooper, but they don’t really differentiate between owner and droid now do they?” DB responded with a string of chirps. “OK yes he was probably going to kill me... after some torture trying to find out how I knew this person I just met. That still doesn’t mean I can't be a little freaked out about it!” Tor punctuated the sentence by stamping her foot down and crossing her arms. It was however an awkward remaining trip up, seeing as both parties couldn’t really distance themselves apart. 

Eventually the slow ride came to a stop and after a beat the large doors shuddered open, quickly replacing the metallic and oil tinged air with that of fresh produce and perfumes. Tor thought to herself how much she disliked the top, with how different the sounds of large crowds and people haggling compared to the more comforting sounds of things getting repaired or disassembled. Taking a deep calming breath Tor made her way into the flow of the crowd, set on the current priority: finding the pilot Vertof hired. Going with the flow of the crowd it takes Tor a few minutes before she finds a stall she knows, one of the droid venders Qui’dol. Breaking from the crowd Tor gave a wave to Qui’dol and swapped over to the trading language, a mixed style of several languages that makes it easier for most anyone to pick up quickly “ _Qui’dol my favorite four-armed purveyor of fine droids!_ ” 

The light brown Besalisk was polishing one of his protocol droids with his primary arms, while the smaller lower arms were resting on his waist cupping his somewhat large gut. Hearing his name Qui’dol turned around and upon seeing Tor he raised all his arms in greeting, the fine cloths of light blue with gold trim making it clear he was one of the residents of the Top. _“Ah if it isnt little Tor the best droid repairer in the whole planet!” He then lowered his arms to his side in mock sadness “And how am I not your favorite droid vendor, and not just of the four-armed variety?_ ” 

“ _Come on Qui’dol, you know in the scrapping business every one of your associates have to be your favorite. Word gets out I like you more, Old Jerrif would try and short-change me._ ” Then Tor leaned in conspiratorial and whispered “ _Though with how well he pays now that would mean he would try and make ME pay for his parts!_ ” This caused Qui’dol to burst into a laughter that shook his whole body and ended with a slap to his knee. 

After a moment of regaining his composure Qui’dol inquired _“Well in any case, what do I owe the honor of your visit? It doesn’t seem like a business one, unless that still broken astromech droid leg counts in which case I think you may find that me and Old Jerrif have the same idea of pay._ ” Cutting right to the point, classic Qui’dol thought Tor. He may be a good friend, but he was still a businessman trying to make a profit and standing around talking is lost revenue. 

“ _Ah Qui’dol, you cut through my perfect scheme to ruin your business by talking with a good friend. But if you must know I actually need to find the closest space port, I have some important stuff waiting for me but its my first time dealing with off-world goods_.” It was only somewhat of a lie with enough truth involved to make it difficult to catch the deception. 

At hearing this Qui’dol crossed both his arms and gave Tor a smile and in a friendly mocking tone asked “ _Ah, finally expanding your work. I hope it won't go to your head where you forget us little people that got you where you are.” he then pointed a little way off towards a tall slender spire with a box like shape on the end. “That is the control tower for the space port. Its right next to the landing area, shouldn’t be hard to miss even for one not used to being up Top._ ” 

“ _Oh don’t worry, as one of my favorite droid vendors I'll make sure to give you some great discounts.” This drew a chuckle from the larger alien “I thought everyone was your favorite?” Tor walked up and put a hand on one of his lower arms “You will always be my favorite. Nobody else talks to me like you, and i'm going to miss it._ ” 

This sudden showing of emotion brought a worried look from Qui’dol _“What are you talking about? It sounds more like your leaving then getting some goods._ ” Now it was his turn to lean down and whisper to Tor “ _You wouldn’t have been involved in all that racket earlier, would you?_ ” Coming from anyone else Tor would have been worried about getting turned in, but from him it was genuine worry. 

Tor sighed before answering _“Not directly no, I got caught in the middle and one thing led to another and... there's a ship waiting that was supposed to take someone else off-world but now I'm going to be taking his place. I'm sorry I didn’t tell you right away, I didn’t want to worry you or get you involved with this mess._ ” putting both of his main hands on Tor’s shoulders and looked her in the eyes, “ _I will miss you my dear friend, but if you must leave to save yourself then so be it. I’m glad that you decided to visit me before you left, and as a parting gift I want to give you something that will help you._ ” 

After a moment of rummaging through an older box Qui’dol brought Tor a small personal blaster pistol. “ _I know you don’t have any weapons so I want you to have this. Its an old blaster that I used back when I had to travel down to the lower levels as a less well-off merchant. I hope it protects you as well as it did me._ ” 

Tor took the hand-sized blaster and looked at it before back at her best friend on the planet for what would most likely be the last time, hardly able to speak without getting overwhelmed by emotions. “ _Thank you, I will keep this close to me, and hopefully I won't have to use it._ ” Then Tor was struck by a sudden idea “ _I don’t want to burden you more than I have, but can I ask for one more item if you have it?_ ” 

Qui’dol gave her a warm smile “ _For you, I will do my best. What is it you need?_ ” With a sly grin on her face Tor simply told him “ _A blank data chip if you can spare it._ ” 


End file.
